


Two Striders, Jeff and Frank...

by OfMonstersAndWerewolves



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Crack, Ficlet, Gen, Light crack, Machines, Striders (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29309604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfMonstersAndWerewolves/pseuds/OfMonstersAndWerewolves
Summary: For one Strider, a calm morning is broken by a call from someone whose whereabouts for the last few days has been a mystery to him. And the explanation is way too far-fetched to be true...
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Two Striders, Jeff and Frank...

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fic for this fandom, and it's a bit of a crackfic between two Striders. I only recently finished the game (not including the DLC yet) and I've loved it. So here we are.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

As the morning sun shone across the land, machines of all kinds wandered through the underbrush, the odd fox or rabbit passing beside them. A myriad of scents – from the wet morning soil, to the flowers dotting the landscape – hit any beings and machines capable of experiencing olfactory sense. A fire burned some way away, its smoke rising up into the atmosphere and dissipating into seemingly nothing. 

Overall, this area, at least, offered little in that moment in the realm of disruption. That is, until the relative calm was abruptly interrupted.

“Jeff.”

Hmm…?

“Jeff!”

“Huh?” Was someone calling him?

“Jeff!” Was that...? “I’m back! I’m back, Jeff!”

“What the-Frank?” It was! “Where the hell have you been?! You've been gone for days!”

“Oh, Jeff! You wouldn’t believe it.”

Had he been able to, he probably would have sighed right then. “Try me.”

“Well, I was just grazing with you, without a care in the world, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary from any other day. Then suddenly, I got the strangest feeling, as though my mind was being stripped of all its hostility towards humans.”

“...right.”

“And the next thing I know, some woman's strapped to my back.”

“You what??”

“Honest, no word of a lie, this woman – Nora I think she was – was riding on my back and taking me away.”

“Why didn't you say anything?”

“I just kinda thought I'd go along with it. I've never been friendly towards a human before. I felt a lot calmer. I liked it. It was… liberating, in a way. Like it was my true self. Learned a little about their customs too. They're very strange, I must say.”

“Who was she? I mean, how the heck did she manage that?!”

“I think it’s her stick.”

“Her stick?”

“Yeah. I saw her use it on some other machines. A big Ravager, and it attacked a bunch of Watchers.”

“Blimey.”

“Yeah.”

“What did she look like?”

“Oh, long ginger hair, light skin, kinda cool looking outfits, amazing abs. She could have pulled all the lads and ladies with those. About a million different weapons too – no idea where she kept pulling them from. Every five minutes she had something different in her hands. Maybe it was similar to the teleporting?”

“Teleporting?”

“Yeah, she can teleport. I think that's how I ended up back to normal and stuck thousands of steps away. Maybe her powers ran out?”

“...uh huh.”

“She’s good though.”

“At what?”

“Killing machines.”

“That’s… nice to know.”

“And helping people. She was going on oh so many quests.” He shook his head to displace a fly. “I think that's why she teleported. The next one must have been too many steps away. Didn't think about me though, did she? No, I've just been taking her everywhere, over countless different terrains and biomes, and what do I get for it? Attacked by a Sawtooth, and then abandoned.”

“You were attacked by a Sawtooth?!” No he wasn't. That one definitely was a lie.

“She killed it.” As though that makes any difference.

“How are you still standing here in front of me?”

“She fixed me.”

“Right.”

Awkward silence. “You don't believe me do you?”

“Can you blame me? Look Frank, are you sure that's what happened? You can be honest with me. Did you just get lost during a storm?”

“No! I'm telling the truth!”

“It's just, it does seem a little far fetched, you know? You must see that? I mean, a woman overriding machines with a stick and using them to travel around? It just sounds like utter nonse-”

“Jeff?”

“Uh…”

“Oh no! It’s her! Jeff!”

“Calm, calm.”

He watched as the woman rode off, taking Jeff with her to who knows where. 

“Jeeeeeeeeeefffff!”

And just like that, they were gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I do have a few more fic ideas planned, more serious ones than this one. And more shippy too. And probably longer. Hopefully, I'll get round to writing and uploading them relatively soon.
> 
> Stay safe everyone!


End file.
